1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a light-weight, sturdy transfer cart for transporting food products and the like, and to a method for making a transfer cart.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In order to expedite the handling of various food products from the production plant to the retail outlet, the trend has been to provide transfer carts onto which food products are directly loaded. The loaded transfer carts may then be wheeled into a vehicle for transport to the retail outlet. At the retail outlet, the transfer carts are removed from the vehicle and wheeled into place in a storage or display area of the store. While on display, the customer may inspect and select the product directly from the transfer cart. When emptied, the transfer carts are removed from display, and subsequently returned to be cleaned and sanitized if necessary and refilled with product containers.
One industry especially suited for using transfer carts of this type is the milk industry. The concept of employing transfer carts is particularly suited for use in handling milk containers which are extremely heavy and bulky while being relatively fragile. Additionally, milk products are spoilable food products which when spilled and allowed to stand create an unsightly mess often having an unpleasant odor and additionally provide a breeding ground for bacteria and the like which may create a health hazard.
Another modern trend in the industry is to provide transfer carts that can be mechanically loaded with the product containers. The transfer cart is typically loaded by holding it adjacent a loader which arranges the product containers to fit on the transfer cart and places the product containers onto each shelf of the transfer cart.
Previously, some transfer carts have been constructed having shelves with upwardly extending retaining lips at their front and rear edges. These retaining lips, while very effective in retaining the product containers on the shelves during transport, have greatly complicated the automated loading process in that the product containers must be loaded over the lip and then onto the shelf. As a result, a "shovel" carrying the product containers must be inserted into the cart over the shelf lip after which a bar holds the product containers in place while the "shovel" is withdrawn dropping the product containers to the shelf. Because milk product containers are heavy, the entire shelf cannot be loaded with a single "shovel". Multiple "shovels" of product containers must be inserted thereby slowing and further complicating the loading process. Furthermore, as the product containers are dropped from the "shovel" some breakage occurs, increasing the cost of the product to the consumer and producing spillage which is both unsightly and unhealthy.
The use of a vertically movable gate in the cart allows the loader to raise the gate and then easily slide the product containers onto the shelves. Thus, an entire shelf may be loaded by pre-arranging the product containers and sliding all of the product containers onto the shelf at once, thereby simplifying the loading procedure while decreasing breakage during loading.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,842 issued Mar. 19, 1974 to Swick, Danielson, and Taylor discloses a wheeled cart with openable gate. This particular construction provides a gate which, in use, has been too often deformed and has been and jammed and is difficult to fabricate due to the larger number of parts.
The known prior art has not been able to effectively overcome the construction, loading, and sanitation problems.